Envisioning a world without garbage

A class at East Amwell School in New Jersey sorts juice pouches, which will be recycled into messenger and tote bags. STORY HIGHLIGHTS TerraCycle takes waste and either recycles or reuses the material
It calls its programs "brigades" and has 43 collection brigades in the U.S.
New Jersey school helps fund environmental club through candy wrappers, juice pouches
TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky says, "In every case, it's better to recycle" Tune in at 3 p.m. ET Saturday for a special Earth Day edition of CNN's "Green Solutions: In Focus." The award-winning series produced by CNN photojournalists brings you stories of people's efforts to save the planet and nourish a nation.

(CNN) -- The way Tom Szaky sees it, just about everything you put in your trash can, you can send to him.

Well, his company, that is.

TerraCycle will take hard-to-recycle items or garbage such as juice pouches, chip bags, toothbrushes and pens and work with companies to reuse them in backpacks, park benches, cutting boards and other items.

"Our goal is to open in every country around the world and collect every type of waste," Szaky said by phone between business meetings in San Francisco. "We have big ambitions to try to solve this for all. Our model works for every type of garbage so why not bring it to everyone?"

The TerraCycle model works like this: You sign up to be in a brigade -- say the candy wrapper brigade. You collect them, box them up and send them (for free) to a TerraCycle collection center. The company will donate 2 cents per wrapper to a school or charity. Checks range from $10 to "big dollars," Szaky said.

TerraCycle was founded in 2001 as a organic fertilizer company. Szaky, then a student at Princeton University, went to a friend's place where red wiggler worms were fed leftovers and produced a liquid waste that worked pretty well as a plant food.

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